Twin's Bond
by Thendra Black
Summary: Duo's dying and his twin sister must take his place as a Gundam pilot. Slight problem...she's a girl!
1. Twin's Bond Ch 1

A/N: Here's the standard disclaimer.  I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters used here except for Kieara.  Please don't sue me.  I don't have any money.  J  Enjoy!

            Standing alone on the edge of the cliff, Duo Maxwell leaned into the wind.  It buffeted his slender body and pushed him away from the sheer drop.  Not that he was worried.  He'd jumped off the cliff too many times during his young life to let it bother him.  He stood there, reflecting on his life, while the sun sank slowly beneath the edge of the horizon.  A few minutes later, a bright red convertible pulled up beside his shimmering black gundam.

            "Hi sis," he said casually.

            "Hey."  Kieara Treshane walked over to stand next to her brother.  She allowed the wind to push her back slightly.  "What did you want to talk to me about that was so important?"

            "This."  Duo handed Kieara a manila envelope.  She took it with a quick sideways glance at him and popped it open.  There was still enough light in the fiery sky for her to read what was written on the pieces of paper.

            "What?!?" she shrieked.  "This has to be wrong."

            "It's not," Duo replied.  "You'll notice there's five different doctors listed there.  I've been to all of them."

            "Kiearan," Kieara began.

            "Ki, I can't do anything about this," Duo told her softly.  He turned to face her.  "I've checked into all my options.  I'm just going to fade away slowly.  I don't want to linger.  I'm the God of Death, not one of His soulless puppets."

            "Key, you know what'll happen if you kill yourself," Kieara protested.

            Duo wrapped his arms around his sister.  "Yes, I know," he said.  His voice was rough with unshed tears.  "That's why I want your help."

            "How can I help you?" Kieara asked warily.  She wrapped her arms tightly around him.  She could feel the tremors shaking his thin frame.  She leaned against his chest, listening to the comforting sound of his breathing.

            "I want you to take my place as a Gundam pilot," Duo replied.  "In fact, I want you to become Duo Maxwell.  I can't do my job anymore.  Heero's already noticed that I don't fly as well as I used to.  The others aren't quite as observant.  It won't take long, though.  I can barely grip the controls these days."

            "I'd have to become you," Kieara said.  "They won't accept a female pilot."

            "No they won't," Duo agreed.  "I swiped plans for a mini-holographic projector.  It should be powerful enough to hide your more obvious feminine features."

            Kieara sniffed, blinking back her tears.  "I hope so," she said.  "Heero isn't exactly the gentlest person when he discovers things he doesn't like."

            "I know," Duo said.  "But we're twins.  Unless you do something completely out of character, no one will know the difference."

            "I'll try," Kieara said simply.  Duo squeezed her once, and then walked over to his Gundam.  He set it for auto pilot and stealth mode.  He pulled out the recall device and sent Deathscythe down off the cliff.  The water there was deep enough that no one would be able to detect it while it was cloaked.

            "We have the schematics for D-Hell," Duo said.  "We'll build her for you so you have a Gundam that will work better than mine does."

            "Shinigami must never die," Kieara said sadly.

            "No," Duo said seriously.  "He can't die.  That's why I need you, Ki."

            "You've had me all our lives, Key," Kieara said.  "I'm not about to walk away now."

            "Thanks," Duo said.  He hopped into the passenger seat of Kieara's little sports car.  "Let's get out of here.  For some reason, I'm feeling a little depressed."

            Kieara managed a weak smile.  "I wonder why?" she asked.  She turned and released the medical reports into the air.  The wind carried them out to the ocean.  The sea did the rest, concealing from the world the dreadful secret that they carried.  She hopped into her car and revved the engine.  The twins had a love of going fast, so she put the pedal to the metal and sped towards their hilltop home.

            Kieara couldn't help staring at her reflection as she and her brother stood side by side.  It had been three months since his revelation, and they'd spent the entire time in a frenzy of construction.  Her Gundam, the newly created Deathscythe Hell, rested in the hangar.  The tiny projector that would hide the fact that she was a girl hung around her neck in the form of the golden crosses she and Duo always wore.

            Instead of being dressed in her usual Gothic style, she was dressed in one of Duo's priest's outfits.  Her chestnut hair hung in a braid down past her butt and her indigo eyes were now the same piercing violet as her twin's.  Duo stood beside her, and had she not known which one of them was which, she'd have thought she was seeing double.  "Benefits of being identical fraternal twins," Duo quipped.

            Kieara shook her head.  There were differences, but only someone who knew her twin like she did would see them.  He was paler, and the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced.  The pain that lurked just behind his cheerful expression was also obvious to her, in more ways than one.  The strong aches in his body were echoed vaguely in hers.  "Key, are you sure about this?" she asked.  Even her voice sounded like his.

            "You've got all the training I do, plus a little extra," Duo said.  "You know how to pilot the Gundam.  You can fight.  You've got a decent head for strategy.  You'll do fine."

            "I don't know if I can kill people though," Kieara told him.

            "Think of it this way," Duo said.  "If you don't kill _them_, they're going to turn around and kill more innocent people.  Like they did with Father Maxwell and Sister Helen."

            "Like they're doing to you?" Kieara asked.  Duo looked startled.  "I did some checking too, brother dear.  What's killing you isn't a natural illness.  It's an engineered bacteria targeted for a specific person.  You probably picked it up on your last mission."

            "OZ must really not like me," Duo said lightly.

            "I'm going to find out who planted the bacteria," Kieara said in a deadly calm voice.  "That's one person I won't mind killing.  I'll do it slowly and painfully, so they understand the full scope of what they're doing to you."  The icy chill in her voice reminded Duo a little bit of Heero and his devotion to his mission.

            "Be careful," Duo warned.  "Don't let this turn you into someone like Heero."

            "Hilde will be here if you need anything.  Howard is staying with me for now, but I'll probably send him back before too long.  You've taught me everything that you know about the pilots and all the codes.  I've got your e-mail dumps and net posts memorized.  I should be able to keep the old fools from realizing we've switched places for a little while," Kieara said, ignoring his warning.

            "Good," Duo said.  He kissed his sister on the forehead.  "You'd better get out of here.  I promised the guys I'd be back two months ago."

            "Oh joy," Kieara sighed.  "I get to have a pissed off Heero for my first encounter with them."  She stopped.  "You two share a room, don't you?"

            "Yes," Duo said with a grin.  "Guess you'll have to be really careful, won't you?"

            Kieara stuck her tongue out at him.  "Go lay down before you collapse," she snapped.  "I'm heading out."  She hugged him again, grabbed his duffel bag, and hurried out of the room.  Duo watched her go, the concern and fear he felt showing openly on his face.  

            "Shinigami lives on, now a Goddess of Death," Duo said softly.  He sank wearily onto his bed.  "Together forever, beyond Death and Life.  That's the bond of the twins."


	2. Twin's Bond Ch 2

A/N:  I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters used except for Kieara.  The copyright is owned by the people who created Gundam Wing.  Enjoy!

            "You're late."  Heero glared at the braided pilot as he bounced into the safe house.

            "Yeah, yeah, I know," Duo said.  "I got caught up in dealing with some stuff and lost track of time."

            "We have had to put two missions on hold while you were 'dealing with some stuff'," Wufei snapped.

            "Like it's killing you to wait," Duo told him.

            "Duo!  We were getting worried," Quatre said as he came into the main room.  As always, Trowa was at his side.  "You didn't let us know you were going to be late."

            "Sorry Q-man," Duo quipped.  "Comm system on the D-Hell still has a few bugs in it."

            "D-Hell?" Heero asked sharply.

            "Deathscythe Hell," Duo said.  He gave his fellow pilots an innocent look.  "Didn't I tell you?  I was heading home to pick up my new Gundam.  She's twice as powerful as the old Deathscythe and definitely a lot more maneuverable.  I had to do some training with her since she's got a couple new tricks that I needed to get a handle on."

            "I see," Heero said skeptically.

            Duo spread his hands.  "Hey, if you don't believe me, go check.  She's parked with the other Gundams.  You'll see."  Heero stood up and headed out the door.  Wufei and Trowa followed.  Duo headed up to the room he shared with Heero.  "Oh man, I have _got to get this place cleaned up."_

            Manga comics were scattered all over the bed.  Clothes were tossed wherever there was space on his side of the room.  Various wrappers, papers, and other things littered the floor.  Duo dropped his duffel bag next to the door and went to work.  It didn't take long to straighten up the mess.  When the room was sufficiently clean, he grabbed his duffel bag and put its contents away.  He pulled a black-framed picture out of the bottom of the bag.  It was a picture of a pair of bright-eyed, brown-haired children playing on a beach.  He set the picture up on the table next to his bed.

            "Who are they?"  Heero had snuck in while he was organizing things.

            Duo jumped.  "Geez, Heero, make a little noise next time, will ya?"  Duo tossed his braid over his shoulder.  "That's me and my twin, at the beach on L2."

            "I didn't know you had a twin," Heero commented.

            "I don't talk about her much," Duo said.  "She's trying to stay out of sight because she knows what'll happen if OZ ever finds out about her."

            "She is a weakness," Heero said flatly.

            "Yes she is," Duo snapped.  "And I'm proud to have her as one."  He turned to glare at the cobalt-eyed pilot.  "Everyone has to have something to protect, Heero.  Mine just happens to be my twin."

            Heero turned away.  Duo shook his head.  He flopped down on his bed and opened his laptop.  If there were missions that had been delayed, he knew he'd better read up on them in a hurry.  Neither required the presence of all five Gundam pilots, but the second one was more to his style.  Heero had already accepted the first one.  Duo quickly took on the second one, since assassinations were best carried out by the God of Death or the Perfect Soldier.

            "Mission accepted," Heero murmured.

            "Yeah, no kidding," Duo sighed.  He packed up his laptop and his gear.  "I just got here too.  Oh well."

            "Your target?" Heero asked.

            "Lord Kendrick of L7," Duo replied promptly.  "Yours?"

            "General Hamil, OZ Special Forces," Heero answered.

            "You took the harder one," Duo remarked.  He grabbed up his gear.  "See you later."

            "You're leaving again so soon?" Quatre asked.

            "Hey, you want to take an assassination mission?" Duo asked.  Quatre shook his head.  "I didn't think so."  He flashed the blonde pilot a goofy grin.  "Don't worry.  I'll be back before you notice I'm gone."  Heero walked silently past and out to his Gundam.  "He's the one you should worry about.  Him and that damned suicidal tendency of his."  Duo waved cheerfully and headed out.

            Duo dropped out of Deathscythe Hell's cockpit and sagged a little as his injured leg nearly gave out.  He leaned up against his Gundam's leg and counted to ten before staggering into the safe house.  Quatre and Trowa were sitting in the living room, watching a newscast.  Both were on their feet instantly.  "Duo!  What happened to you?" Quatre asked in concern.

            Duo managed a small smile.  "My target's bodyguards," he said.  "The briefing didn't mention he had fifteen of the bastards.  I got 'em all, and the assigned target, but it was a little messy for a while."

            "Heero isn't back yet," Trowa said.  "But his assignment made the evening news."  He gestured to the T.V. where a military funeral was being broadcast live.  "According to the report, the assassin got away before he could be identified."

            "Heero never misses," Duo replied.  "Look, I'm dead tired.  I'm gonna go crash for a couple hours."

            "We'll wake you for dinner," Quatre promised.

            "Thanks," Duo said.  He staggered up the stairs and into the room he shared with Heero.  He tossed his duffel bag into the closet without bothering to unpack.  He pulled some clean clothes out of a drawer and hopped into the shower.  A few minutes later, with his wounds freshly bandaged, Duo sprawled on his bed.  He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

            Duo sat up with a gasp, a knife gleaming in one hand.  A quick glance at the door told him it was still on his hinges.  "So what woke me up?" he muttered, sheathing his knife.  His eyes roamed the room.  He almost missed the sight of Heero slumped in the shadow of the huge dresser they shared.  "What the hell?"  He hopped out of bed and limped over to where the other boy sat.  Heero was bleeding from several wounds.  "Baka!  Why didn't you take care of these before you got here?"

            "The mission had to be completed," Heero said dully.

            Duo grabbed the first aid kit and began cleaning the wounds.  He glared at Heero.  "The bullets are still in a few of these," he told him.

            "Cut them out," Heero ordered.

            "Fine," Duo replied.  "No screaming.  You'll disturb the neighbors."  Duo pulled out his knife again and dipped it in the alcohol.  He carefully inserted it into the first wound.  With a quick flip of his wrist he popped the bullet out.  Heero winced slightly, but showed no other sign of the pain this had to be causing him.  Duo cleaned out the rest of the bullets.  He put the salve on them and bandaged Heero up.  "You're lucky those don't need stitches.  I'm not that good at sewing."

            "I'm fine," Heero said, getting to his feet.  He dragged himself over to his desk and pulled his laptop out of the battered flight bag he always carried.  He set it up and immediately began working on his report.  Duo cleaned up the mess and settled in to do the same thing.

            Half an hour later, Rashid knocked on the door.  "Master Duo, Master Heero, dinner is ready," he said politely.

            "Thanks Rashid," Duo said.  He transmitted his report and shut down his computer.  "You coming Heero?"  Heero looked up in annoyance but finally saved his work and followed the braided pilot out of the room and down the stairs.

            "You look like you feel better," Quatre said to Duo as he straddled a chair.

            "Eh, I wasn't as bad off as everyone thought," Duo said.  "Including me."  He loaded his plate with all of his favorites and started stuffing his face.  "Heero looked like hell, as usual.  Had to pop bullets out of his hide for the millionth time."

            Quatre looked startled.  "You should have said something," the blonde boy said to Heero.  "I could have had my sister take care of it."

            "It was nothing," Heero said stiffly.  He ate quickly and left the table.

            "Man, he is so anti-social," Duo muttered.

            "Did you expect anything different?" Wufei asked coldly.

            "Nah," Duo said.  "He's always like this."  He finished scarfing his food and sighed.  "Guess I'd better go finish my report."

            "It's your turn to do dishes," Trowa reminded him quietly.

            "Already?" Duo said plaintively.  Wufei glared at him.  "Ok, ok, I'm going.  Geez, Wufei, tone down the death glare, would you?  Heero Yuy you ain't."  He got up and went into the kitchen.  As soon as he was sure no one would follow him, Duo threw up into the sink.  "Oh hell, how can anyone eat that much and not puke?"  He quickly rinsed out the sink and did the dishes.

            "That didn't take you long," Quatre commented as Duo walked into the living room half an hour later.  "It usually takes you forever."

            "Yeah," Duo said.  "I just didn't feel like wasting time.  Look, I'm going to bed.  Suddenly I don't feel good.  Must've been something I ate."  He turned and went back upstairs.

            Duo woke up, stifling his scream in his pillows.  This was the first nightmare he'd had since he was a kid.  He sat up slowly, brushing the tendrils of his chestnut hair out of his face.  Heero was still typing away at his report.  "Damn it," Duo muttered.  "Don't you ever sleep?"

            "I don't need as much sleep as you," came the predictable reply.  "You had a nightmare."

            "Yeah, I did," Duo snapped.  "It happens once in a while."  He pushed himself out of bed.  "I need a drink."

            "Alcohol dulls your reactions," Heero said.

            "Yeah, and it also lets me sleep without nightmares," Duo replied waspishly.  He padded out of their shared room and into the kitchen.  Trowa was already making coffee.  Duo glanced at the clock.  It was too early for any of them to be up unless there was a mission.  He opened his mouth to ask, but one look at Trowa's pale face told him it most definitely was _not_ a mission.

            "You too?" Trowa asked, gesturing to Duo's own pale face and disheveled hair.

            "Nightmare?" Duo hazarded.  Trowa nodded.  "Yeah.  Stupid, really.  Haven't had one since I was a kid."

            "I don't dream very often," Trowa said.  He handed Duo a mug of coffee and the bottle of Irish Cream liqueur.  "This helps, or so I'm told."

            "It does," Duo agreed.  "Just don't overdo it.  If we have to fly tomorrow, you're not going to want a hangover.  Been there, done that, ain't doing it again."  The two boys lapsed into silence, both lost within their own thoughts.

            A short time passed, and Quatre stumbled out to join them.  Of all the pilots, Quatre was the one most afflicted with nightmares.  Trowa gave him a cup of coffee and the alcohol, and made room for him to pull a chair up to the table.  Not long after that, Wufei joined them.  Without asking, they knew that Wufei was the last to join them.  Heero never did.  But then, as far as any of them could tell, Heero never slept either.

            "I'm going back to bed," Duo said finally, as Quatre struggled not to fall asleep on his lover's shoulder.  "Tro, you might want to get Quatre back to bed.  He's already trying to pass out and he didn't drink near as much as we did."

            Trowa flashed Duo one of his rare smiles and lifted the blonde boy gently into his arms.  Quatre snuggled closer to Trowa as the taller boy carried his blonde angel down the hall and into their shared room.  "I will set the coffee maker to go off at its usual time," Wufei said.  "So we do not have to listen to you whining about having no coffee in the morning."

            Duo shrugged.  "Works for me," he said.  "I think I'm too drunk to try and figure out a complicated piece of machinery like that."  He returned to his room and passed out on the bed, grateful for the effects of the alcohol on his bruised mind.


End file.
